Winter's Mate: Fated on Ice

ROSIE

The Christmas lights hung across the ski lodge's ceiling, blurring into streaks of gold and white as tears filled my eyes. I blinked hard, biting my lower lip as I tried to focus on anything in the room. The sound of the clock ticking, the muffled sounds of people, the snow falling outside the window-but nothing could take me away from this moment.

"Come on, Rosie. Don't be dramatic." Josh's voice held that cruel amusement I'd somehow missed for three whole months. Three months of believing someone like Joshua Carter-star hockey player, campus golden boy-could actually want someone like me.

Idiot.

I clutched the hotel comforter tighter around my naked trembling body, as my gaze fell on my dress crumpled on the ground like a discarded gift wrap.

A joke.

A bet.

"G-get out," I whispered, my voice breaking.

"What was that?" Josh leaned against the doorframe of the hotel room, his jacket hanging open over his bare chest, the chest I'd felt against my palms minutes ago. My stomach coiled in disgust.

Behind him, I could see his friends-Tyler, Mila, and Brad-watching with amusement. And worst of all, standing at the back with her phone held up, was Sophia.

My twin sister.

"I said get out!" I shouted.

Sophia's perfectly glossed lips curved into a smile as she tapped her phone screen. "It's already online, Rosie. Five hundred views. Enjoy the fame."

My breath came in short pants, my hands trembling as my stomach dropped. Video? Which video? I quickly looked to Josh for an explanation as he smirked.

"The bet was whether you'd fall for me. And you did. Hard." Josh's tone was taunting, and there it was-that casual cruelty that had probably always been there, hiding under the charm. "Eight hundred bucks. Though honestly? I earned every penny with that body of yours."

The mocking laughter followed, I'd known I was fat-had lived with the casual cruelty of middle school, the pointed comments from my mother every time I reached for seconds, the constant comparisons to Sophia. "Why can't you be more like your sister?" echoing through every family dinner, every school event, every moment of my childhood.

But Josh had made me believe he saw past all that.

Three months. All a lie.

"You should see your face right now," Tyler said, phone recording. "This is fucking gold."

I scrambled off the bed, grabbed my boots, and ran. I couldn't stay under their mocking faces.

"Rosie, wait-" Sophia's voice followed me.

My own twin sister. The person who'd shared a womb with me had destroyed me.

I pushed past Josh and ran outside.

The cold hit me like a physical blow, stealing what little breath I had left, and I gasped. It was Christmas Eve in Highland Creek, Colorado, the location I'd picked because it had good resort accommodations for couples. If I'd known this would happen, would I have chosen it?

The parking lot was a winter wonderland, all pristine white and twinkling lights,